Mugabe set up militias for political violence

posted at 10:30 am on June 29, 2008 by Ed Morrissey

The Times of London buries the lede somewhat in their look at political violence in Zimbabwe. They start off by recounting a horrifying story of how the baby of an opposition leader got maimed by goons in the employ of Robert Mugabe, but wait until several paragraphs to report that minutes of high-level meetings show he was directly involved in the creation of militias to conduct this violence across the country. Mugabe and his henchmen wanted to avoid having the military attack civilians directly, and instead unleashed thugs in their stead:

Leaked minutes of the Joint Operations Command (JOC), which has orchestrated the violence since Mugabe lost a first round of voting in March, revealed that it is willing to wipe out opposition supporters.

A 10,000-strong youth militia loyal to the Zanu-PF has been created to enforce its wishes in case regular army units refuse, according to Zimbabwean human rights agencies.

“It’s a deliberate nationwide strategy to reoccupy space so all space is occupied by the Zanu of Mugabe,” said Jon Stewart, a director of the Zimbabwe Human Rights Forum.

Minutes of one JOC meeting show that supporters of Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader, “will all be internally displaced. The target number is two million supporters”.

Technically, this does not qualify as genocide as it is not based on ethnicity or religion, but operationally it amounts to the same thing. They wanted to make millions homeless as a threat or a consequence to political opposition, and they hired goons to do it. The minutes prove beyond any doubt that the wave of political violence didn’t come from the MDC as Mugabe alleges, nor as a grassroots movement from fringe Mugabe supporters, but as a deliberate campaign of mass murder and ruthless intimidation.

Small wonder, then, that Mugabe sought to distract attention from his role as murderer-in-chief by asking Morgan Tsvangirai to attend his inauguration, which the MDC leader quickly refused:

Zimbabwe opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai rejected an olive branch offered by President Robert Mugabe on Sunday after a widely condemned election which African observers said was scarred by violence and intimidation. …

Tsvangirai rejected the invitation and said the inauguration was meaningless after an illegitimate poll. He said he would ask the African Union not to recognize Mugabe’s re-election.

Mugabe spokesman George Charamba told Reuters the invitation was “done in the spirit of the president’s wish to reach out … It is a major step towards political engagement.”

At least the Bush administration has taken some action. Yesterday, he announced that new sanctions will be developed, both here in the US and at the UN:

Bush called for strong international action against top regime officials and was sharply critical of the political violence during the campaign, which saw 85 opposition activists killed and more than 3,000 injured.

“I am instructing the secretaries of State and Treasury to develop sanctions against this illegitimate government of Zimbabwe and those who support it,” Bush said in a statement Saturday.

“We will press for strong action by the United Nations, including an arms embargo on Zimbabwe and travel ban on regime officials,” Bush said. “The international community has condemned the Mugabe regime’s ruthless campaign of politically motivated violence and intimidation with a strong and unified voice that makes clear that yesterday’s election was in no way free and fair.”

Mugabe has not paid a price yet for his thuggery, and neither have his henchmen. The actions by the US are a good start towards correcting that, but we should also consider sanctioning the Mbeki government in South Africa in some manner for their defense of a murderous, genocidal regime.

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What is the mandate on genocide? I mean how many years after a genocide it complete can you intervene? 2..3…5…10? Say Saddam killed all those people a year before we liberated Iraq…would it have been Ok to most people. Is there a shelf life on genocidal leaders?

What effect will sanctions have when they don’t actually export anything? You can’t put sanctions on food imports. And other imports will just be supplied by the black market at a higher price, which I’m sure Mugabe will be able to afford, but no one else will.

The folks we should be threatening are South Africa. However, that can be a political nonstarter here. People remember the circumstances of the new government coming to power, and may not hold them to task for the decisions they have made since.

If this was happening in Europe, even on a much smaller scale, the world would have intervened militarily long ago. Because Blacks are the perpetrators & the victims, no one cares.

jgapinoy on June 29, 2008 at 11:14 AM

THIS^^^^

I remember one scene in the movie Hotel Rwanda. Paul Russessbagina, played by Don Cheadle, asks the Canadian UN General, played by Nick Nolte, why the UN Peacekeepers won’t help the people who were hiding in his hotel. The Canadian General says it’s because they are worse than simply “black”. They’re “African”.

This disaster, just like Iraq, was created by the U.N., Jimmy Carter, Billy Blythe III, Madeline Albright and the Donks in general. The GOP ought to be raising holy hell, but they will not. Just a weekly press conference to highlight this stuff. Accuse the Donks of treason. Get a little testy. Rebut Donk propaganda. But there is just silence.

At one time South Africa had the opportunity to help sub-Saharan Africa out of the fourth-world. She squandered that opportunity by embracing the warlords and corruption. Today she is no better then any of the other African hell holes.

All we can do is pick a faction and supply arms. THAT road is full of dangers and pitfalls. The West has a track record of picking out Castros instead of Jeffersons. I wouldn’t hold out any hope that Africa will turn a corner until the Africans themselves are willing to step up to the plate and clean the Mugabes off the map.

That’s not true. First, the world wouldn’t have done anything and as history shows with the various small scale replicas in Yugoslavia, they didn’t. But we and some other countries in Europe, who had the responsibility and moral authority, if you will, to intervene and effective proximity to them, did.

Now it is Africa’s turn. They can stand up, be counted and take the lead in ousting Mugabe or they can forever be considered no better than him. Obviously, the current leadership in South Africa is already shown themselves to be no better than him and those others who espouse some kind of unity power sharing are no better either.

It’s time for them to go. Zanu-PF should be outlawed and their leaders banned from holding any political power as they are unfit to govern in a democracy.

Roland was a warrior, from the land of the midnight sun,
with a Thompson gun for hire, fightin’ to be done.
The Deal was made in Denmark, on a dark a stormy day,
so they set out for Biafra, to join the bloody fray.

Through 66 and 7, they fought the Congo war,
with their fingers on their triggers, knee deep in gore.
For days and night they battled the Bantu to their knees,
they killed to earn their living,
and to help out the Congolese.

Roland the Thompson gunner; Roland the Thompson gunner.

His comrades fought beside him, Van Owen and the rest,
but of all the Thompson gunners, Roland was the best.
So the CIA decided, they wanted Roland dead,
That son-of-a-bitch Van Owen blew off Roland’s head.

I agree with the first part. In addition, South Africa appears they like the last part of the Golden Rule, but not the first part.

On the last part, I don’t agree we pick Castros but we do try to pick the least objectionable available. In the past most were authoritarian and a several pretty bad. But, I’ll just assert a lot of those have transitioned to pretty stable liberal democracies with our help, even if too slowly. In addition, I’ll also assert we’ve gotten better as we went along, especially since the end of the cold war. Our most recent supporting efforts efforts have been rather good whether Ukraine, Georgia, Lebanon, Iraq, Afghanistan. I can’t speak to Croatia, Bosnia etc, because our media’s never bothered to let us know whether we did good, hmm, that’s probably good news, too. Some of the other ‘stans, well not so much.

My comment with the first two stanzas of Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner disappeared, to my dismay. Not gonna do it…again.

A little O/T, Ed – sorry – but I had to mention, speaking of ancient history and the left: ESPN.com has the Euro ’08 Final (Germany v Spain) as their headline, and can you guess what the theme is? Of course – the Holocaust.

Get it? The stadium where they are playing the final was used as a POW camp early in the war, something like 65 years ago. How very … odd.

I remember one scene in the movie Hotel Rwanda. Paul Russessbagina, played by Don Cheadle, asks the Canadian UN General, played by Nick Nolte, why the UN Peacekeepers won’t help the people who were hiding in his hotel. The Canadian General says it’s because they are worse than simply “black”. They’re “African”.

mram on June 29, 2008 at 11:21 AM

That film is liberal propaganda.

In real life Roméo Dallaire, the Canadian general, stood by as the Hutu mob seized the Belgian troops under his command and took them away to kill them.

Belgians are not African but Dallaire didn’t give a hoot about them either.

I wonder if Will Smith thinks that Zimbabwe and Robert Mugabe are loved by all when he’s visits sooo many countries
and did he get all glowing reports of Mugabe.

Will, I challege you and Matt Lauer to go to his Wonderful land of Zimbabwe and on thier prime time media and talk about what really goes on Will . . . . .Your another overrated Hollywood Spoiled A$$ brat. Hate America first, second, and third. But not enough to take the money . Right Will.

ESPN.com has the Euro ‘08 Final (Germany v Spain) as their headline, and can you guess what the theme is? Of course – the Holocaust.

Get it? The stadium where they are playing the final was used as a POW camp early in the war, something like 65 years ago. How very … odd.

Jaibones on June 29, 2008 at 1:13 PM

That’s ESPN, doing what it can to keep Lib memes alive. Perhaps you don’t recall their attempts to claim racism was alive and well in NBA refereeing? I do remember most of the Black players stated quite clearly that this was a crazy notion, but ESPN kept on this for some time, despite this. Typical White Lib faux-guilt, but, again, that’s ESPN…

Why do you have a problem with remembering the Holocaust, anyways? Or is it the “Holohoax” to you?

Its weird and inappropriate for a sports web site to have this as their front page item on the day of a major sporting event. This story would belong in the Weekend section of a newspaper, not the Sports section.

I am intensely interested in Obama’s reaction to this and other aspects of African politics. His church’s mission statement is all about Africa, their “homeland,” and Obama himself has expressed an interest in spreading American wealth to Africa (even more than we already do) through various means. He has said that he feels a particular attachment to Africa, the land of his father’s people.

What does Obama intend to do about Mugabe and other ruthless fascist dictators in Africa, if anything? Does he want to pull us out of the Middle East so he can take us into Africa? I think that under an Obama administration, we’ll be hearing a whole lot more about Africa. Just a hunch.

Africa is a mess, and could no doubt use some intervention, but it’s not a direct threat to us at this time. Countries in the Middle East and Southeast Asia do constitute an immediate threat to our interests, so I hope a President Obama would not divert our resources from the latter to the former.

Its weird and inappropriate for a sports web site to have this as their front page item on the day of a major sporting event. This story would belong in the Weekend section of a newspaper, not the Sports section.

aengus on June 29, 2008 at 1:40 PM

I didn’t disagree with that, and I noted that this is ESPN’s contribution to the Lib Meme of “Keepin’ the past alive”, thus ensuring that the ADL and NAACP stay employed. Now, why that’s significant enough for jgapinoy to mention as OT…I’ll wait for jgapinoy to say.

a) There is nothing strategic in play for us here so we’d only act under UN auspices if at all
b) We’ve spent decades pouring cash and ‘aid’ into Africa and none of this has changed. The ‘big men’ come and go but they do the same thing, decade in and out. They steal, rape, murder and then retire to Geneva with the billions we’ve handed out for ‘development’.

There comes a time when you have to ask yourself whether, maybe, just maybe, many of these countries bring this on themselves.

“Land Reform” (what would be known as Grand Theft in civilized countries)is the policy at the root of this particular insanity, and it was WILDLY POPULAR with the Zimbabwean electorate who elected Bobo when he made that a key platform plank.

This is not a pretty situation but is it our responsibility? I don’t think so.

Because Blacks are the perpetrators & the victims, no one cares.–jgapinoy on June 29, 2008 at 11:14 AM

Yes and no. Africa’s natural resources have been envied by those nations with and without their own. Africa’s population has been the recipient of much ancient affliction from the West, and much organized charity since WWII. HOWEVER, those bleeding heart volunteers as well as those colonial descendents who HAVE spent their lives in Africa have been repelled by the tribal leaders who have taken turns mutilating each other. Somalia. Zimbabwe. South Africa. etc. The heinous crimes that each tribe commits against the other can not be STOPPED by “white” Western charity intercession, priests and missionaries, doctors without borders and volunteers. It could be controlled by force. But having educated these populations, upon departure, it still begins anew. That does NOT excuse the UN whose onus mission it is to stop genocidal slaughters but who in fact encourage it by OBSERVING without military intervention.

That logic was the rule of thumb regarding “white” Western involvement in Islamic countries, Iraq being the prime example since “established”/WWI. Bush to his credit has proved that in Iraq, when given the opportunity to be civilized in a non-fascistic democracy, Muslims choose to work together for their unity in Iraq, sect with sect. Oddly, the non-Muslim Christian population that was “safe” during fascism has been totally decimated; and the non-Arab Kurdish population is in a very tender situation between a rock and a hard spot. Gaddafi, considered a freak in America with good reason, having endorsed Obama his Muslim brother who had better not suffer a black inferiority complex, also stated that the Kurds need their own sovereign state for that region and population to be secure. But NO ONE in the MidEast is defending the Black Christians being slaughtered by Muslim tribesmen. And what have the Arabs to say of black (Muslim) tribesmen mutilating/annihilating each other in Africa? Or Arab sect/tribe vs. Arab sect/tribe for that matter? At least THEY realize that their business is predominately AT HOME. Mercenaries aren’t going to deal with Mugabe because those who would hire them are behind Mugabe.

It’s dog eat dog in Africa and we have only so many in our military to protect us, God bless them. The UN has its obligations there. We persist in sending our charitable donations that end up supplementing the thugs. And so it goes. Volunteers get murdered. The UN has “prioritized” Africa as their domain to secure with peacekeeping missions, leaving the charity work to the USA. The USA military is obligated in Iraq and Afghanistan at the moment, keeping eyes open for incoming threats from terrorists around the world. And mercenaries require someone to hire them, and those powerful individuals who COULD hire them are behind Mugabe and thugs.

Bush to his credit has proved that in Iraq, when given the opportunity to be civilized in a non-fascistic democracy, Muslims choose to work together for their unity in Iraq, sect with sect. Oddly, the non-Muslim Christian population that was “safe” during fascism has been totally decimated; and the non-Arab Kurdish population is in a very tender situation between a rock and a hard spot.

Muslims choose to work together for Muslim unity…when they aren’t busy killing each other or blowing up each other’s shrines.

The fate of Iraqi Christians under Ba’athism is not odd when considered in its proper context.

Bush to his discredit does hardly mention and does not propose to do anything about the decimation of the Christian community in Iraq.

Does he or anyone draw any lessons from the role of Iraqi Muslims in the Holocaust, the “Farhud”? Perhaps now that Iraq is liberated, civillised democracy the Iraqis will open a Holocaust museum and issue an official apology wot worldwide Jewry… or perhaps not.

No regime can stand unless it has enough support to staff an army. Mugabe continues to have support from the army, “veterans” and the militias. Whether that support is based in tribal affiliation, ideology or getting paid, doesn’t really matter as long as they are willing to kill for Mugabe.

That’s why RobCon’s suggestion about sending in the 82nd Airborne or some other military action is the only solution. Perhaps something like Ceausescu’s fall in Romania will happen, but as long as Mugabe has support from and control of the military the only way to dislodge him is to defeat his military and militias.

That’s why RobCon’s suggestion about sending in the 82nd Airborne or some other military action is the only solution. Perhaps something like Ceausescu’s fall in Romania will happen, but as long as Mugabe has support from and control of the military the only way to dislodge him is to defeat his military and militias.

Something akin to Ceausescu’s fall in Romania will not happen because no in the West is creating the conditions to make it happen. By conditions I mean moral pressure of the kind Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II applied to the Soviet Union. Instead we have Bill Clinton apologising to Africans for using them as pawns in the Cold War and Western leaders mostly too scared to chastise a black African leader despite the fact that he is a murderous Communist thug.

The only person who could have defeated Mugabe was Ian Smith but he was thrown under the bus by everyone (even SA) in the interests of black ‘liberation’.

Mr Chavez, a devoted admirer of Fidel Castro, has forged an anti-American front with leaders ranging from President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.

At home, however, Mr Chavez is in trouble. State elections are due in November and Venezuela’s opposition, which now includes former followers of South America’s standard-bearer for socialism, is expected to perform well.

The constitution compels Mr Chavez to leave office when his term ends in 2013. He tried to remove this clause and dramatically extend his powers last December – but lost the necessary referendum.

At least the starving people of Zimbabwe can feel good that all the white farmers where forced of the land. Zimbabwe was a net exporter of food and one of the most prosperous nations in Africa until Robert Mugabe stuck it too the white man and threw out all the countries producers. Now there is famine and starvation where once there was plenty. But hey at least they stuck it to the white man.

Muslims choose to work together for Muslim unity…when they aren’t busy killing each other or blowing up each other’s shrines.

Lose the indignation; substitute MuslimsEuropean Christians killing each other, blowing up each other’s cities, Cathedrals, shrines, schools, businesses, homes for a thousand years off and on again. The Scottish Black Guard played their loyal part for Great Britain’s colonial empire leading up to the bain of contemporary politics in the MidEast. And the Irish have their legacy. It hasn’t been so long ago as to feign either superiority over the Muslim role play today or innocense of having had any part.

Having already posted the “proper context” surrounding the inhabitants of Iraq and the fading Christian population, I skewered Bush on that account months ago. No need to quibble. At this point, whatever our disappointments, I dare say that we will all rue the day that Bush left office considering the more horrible future to which we are bound. Not odd, just irony.

SOURCES: BUSH ANGER AT COMING NEW YORK TIMES STORY DETAILING HUNT FOR BIN LADEN… The newspaper is planning to expose a ‘highly classified Pentagon order’ authorizing Special Operations forces to hunt al-Qaida leader in mountains of Pakistan… DEVELOPING….

aengus: I know what I said was a tad Orwellian,just that
it ticks me off a bit,when you hear the usually
seminar caller,who calls into a talk radio show,
and claims that their family has voted for Rep-
ublicans for generations only to be fakers!

Or,the would be Liberal,who poses as a Christian
Republican and goes on a 180 degree view of
abortion,and for no other reason,just to sh!t
desturb on the thread!

I’ve only been blogging less than a year,and only
on H/A,so I guess,me has lots to learn!

Lose the indignation; substitute Muslims European Christians killing each other, blowing up each other’s cities, Cathedrals, shrines, schools, businesses, homes for a thousand years off and on again.

No I don’t think I will lose the indignation. If Bush sent the US armed forces into Germany in the midst of the Thirty Year’s War and, upon suppressing the conflict, claimed that Catholics and Protestants were now ready to work together in harmony I’d be savaging him twenty times more than I am now.

And the Irish have their legacy. It hasn’t been so long ago as to feign either superiority over the Muslim role play today or innocense of having had any part.

So any country that has had a history of religious warfare is as guilty as the Muslims in terms of slaughter, genocide and evil of any description? I’m Irish and I don’t appreciate this comment.

The Irish legacy is that we freed ourselves from foreign rule without help from outside powers so we don’t have any particular reason to grovel to anyone.

Your comment is a logical extension of the mentality of Bush and Rice who constantly degrade and defame the memory of great Americans just to put the Iraqis on an equal level.

At this point, whatever our disappointments, I dare say that we will all rue the day that Bush left office considering the more horrible future to which we are bound.

That is only because Obama and McCain are both despicable liars. The awfulness of these two people does not mean that Bush is some kind of great ruler. Ronald Reagan was a great man in every sense but I don’t care one whit for his successors.

There was a movie some years back about the building of the railroad from Mumbai to Kampala. The British were involved. A good line in the movie was when one of the Brits said he was going on the mission to save Africa from the Africans. The colonists were quite successful at this until the liberals, MSM and communist had them run out. So we see now no one is saving Africa from the Africans. Today we now have another success story by these people of color. If this had been the Rhodesian government doing this the world press, liberals and other do-gooders would be up in arms. But since it is a black thug…sound of crickets.

You’ve been sitting on a burr for some time on my account, perhaps others as well. Our last difference regarded my response to Buy Danish’s comment that aligned with a previous set of entries from myself and Beto Ochoa about the communist Democrat party’s propaganda campaigns to defeat our nation. I noted that Truman was the point of departure for the American Democratic Congressional and MSM conversion from national unity toward the defeatism we suffer today. You inserted MacArthur blaming him alone as a madman aggressor in Korea attempting to detonate 20 nuclear bombs. Beto Ochoa clarified the historical setting and facts for us all.

Looking at the world, I make an observation on topic. You see your historical observation and make it. The observations would not differ except for the irritability factor. Sitting on your personal burr, you take offense when none is attributed, and then give offense when none is necessary by projecting your demons as mine. Since I would not purposely do that to you, I suggest you rescind your error in judgement. As per the Irish, my better half whom I adore is Irish, as was my dear Grandmother. Get rid of that chip on your shoulder before attributing nonsense at my expense. Your comments are intelligent but spite makes them unattractive. No hard feelings.